The present invention relates to inflating balloons made of expanding materials to a safe limit, and more particularly to a balloon fill gauge tackable to a balloon that indicates when the balloon materials have expanded to their maximum capacity before the balloon might otherwise burst or explode which may cause damage and/or injury.
Referring to prior art FIGS. 1A-E, balloon 10 can be made of any shape, including specific novelty characters and cartoons, but also may be generally pillow shaped to spherical as illustrated. Balloons 10 typically may have a seam 14 wherein the balloon 10 is made of two sheets of materials discussed below. Alternatively, balloons 10 may be made of a seamless material, such as a unitary latex balloon. Nearly all balloons have valves 12 into which is inserted an inflation nozzle which may or may not be regulated to inflate the balloon 10 to a certain level after which the nozzle is removed and the valve is self-sealing or a knot may be placed thereat.
Commonly flat balloons 10 shown in FIG. 1-A may be inflated to approximately as shown in 1-C (pillow shaped) where the specific balloon materials may not have significant elasticity or expansion characteristics. In this scenario, balloon 10 clearly has wrinkles 16 about the seam or periphery 14 of the material. In some cases, the balloons are desired to be inflated to create a full spherical look, as shown in FIG. 1-E, wherein all the wrinkles 16 have disappeared adjacent seam 14.
In the prior balloon filling scenario in FIG. 1A-1E, it is very difficult for the balloon inflator to know when to stop inflating the balloon before the balloon might explode. Such balloon inflators are very cautious about not exploding balloons and are instructed to wear both eye and ear protection when inflating balloons should they explode so to avoid injury. FIG. 1A-E is an actual illustration on a balloon package for the balloon inflator to follow as to stop filling the balloon when it has become very round and the wrinkles and bumps 16 have disappeared from the balloon typically around the seam 14.
Balloons may be made of a variety of expandable materials including latex, polyester, nylon, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), metalized polymaides (nylon 6), and metalized layers sealed between a polymeric film and an elastomeric sealant just to name a few. The stretchability or expandability of these balloon materials may further be enhanced by the addition of elastomers to the specific materials.
Balloons are inflated with gas (air or helium) suitability from gas tanks located at retail outlets which may have 80-90 PSI of compressed gas within the tanks. At the top of the gas tanks may be located inflators or nozzles just after the on/or valve which may be inserted into the balloon valves for inflation. The gas flow pressure may be controlled by regulators and also additional regulators may be used to only allow up to a range of 0.5 to 0.7 PSI or 16-18 inches of water column pressure to assure that the balloon 10 does not over inflate and explode. These regulators are common for character balloons that do not require that they be completely round, ball-like or spherical. For spherical balloons, a gas flow rate regulator may include a 0.125 (⅛) inch orifice.
Devising regulators to allow the inflation of a balloon to a round, ball like or spherical geometric shape without reaching maximum capacity typically followed by explosion are expensive and difficult to design. One such effort might include a regulator gas flow rate together with an electronic timer which would assure balloon 10 would reach its spherical shape without explosion. Again, this construction of a regulator is contemplated to be expensive and not desirable by the tens of thousands of stores who sell flat balloons to their customers and inflate them for immediate enjoyment often with helium which makes the balloons lighter than air and float upwardly.
There is a need for a balloon fill gauge for balloons made of elastic material that are not expensive such as the regulators positioned on the gas tanks. Such a balloon fill gauge should be inexpensive, a language-free visual gauge, does not require safety equipment, is easily removable from the balloon after inflation, is visually easy to determine when the balloon is fully inflated, is fun to watch the balloon inflate as well as the gauge and takes the danger and guessing out of balloon inflation.